i started writing when i was 15 – i wrote bad teenage poetry. 14 years later i have a comic coming out nationally with my wife @lisasterle and during the day i’m the editor/writer of a local news website.
i never dreamed i’d be able to call myself a writer when i was working at white castle, or tj maxx, or when i was selling dildos at a sex store or having an emotional breakdown in the bathroom of a chipotle because i just fired another employee after 9 months of 80 hour weeks. i never dreamed i’d be able to call myself a writer after i was laid off after 3.5 years working for a startup doing their social media, or when i was making ice cream or when i worked as a janitor. work has been my life.
i didn’t go to college and i never thought i’d get to say that i make my living, pay my rent, feed my dog, cook my wife dinner and buy beer with the money i make from writing.
the truth is though that the last stuff doesnt matter – i mean it does. yeah, i get it. but in the end it is about a mentality. i kept doing this because i loved it. it took 14 years of stupid hard work. of not writing for MONTHS, of taking breaks and then destroying myself and then beating dark souls for the fifth time then writing some more then putting 2,000 hours on dota 2 then writing some more.
life sucks, and it is hard, and things are unfair but at the end of the day if you do what you love, and create something and are able to own that thing, and be yourself you’ll find happiness. it just might take a while.